Seizures and school nurse Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Seizures and school nurse - Dissertation Example In line with this, the Epilepsy Foundation (2011) has recently reported that there are as much as 120,000 individuals below the age of 18 years old are going through seizure and that between 75,000 to 100,000 of these young people are experiencing seizure attacks are under the age of 5 years old. On top of this figures, approximately 326,000 school-age children are suffering from epilepsy at the age of 15 years old (ibid). Considering the number of school-age students who may anytime go through seizure attack, this report will focus on describing how the school nurse should function as the coordinator of epileptic students in school and within the community circle. To allow the readers gain better understanding about this subject matter, the etiology of epilepsy, its presenting signs and symptoms, and the appropriate medical treatment, medication and its side-effects. Eventually, a literature review will be conducted to determine the best educational accommodations available to the s tudents including the organizations or special support that should be made available to epileptic students and parents based on the students concerns as they progresses through elementary, middle, and high school years of education will be explored in details. Literature Review Etiology of the Disease Etiology of epilepsy is multi-factoral by nature. Even though one can be more predominant than the other, there are some studies suggesting that the main causes of epilepsy are mostly combined genetic factors, developmental factors (i.e. birth asphyxia, malformation of the cortical or vascular development), or diseases that are often associated with epilepsy (i.e. neurodegenerative disorder, CNS infection, tumor, autoimmune disorders, hippocampal sclerosis, idiopathic generalized epilepsy, cerebrovascular diseases, cryptogenic) (Shorvon, Andermann, & Guerrini, 2011, p. 113; Silva, 2009; Wyllie, Gupta, & Lachhwani, 2005, p. 348, 351; Maudgil, 2003, p. 3). Aside from inheritable health c onditions like tuberous sclerosis, metabolic syndrome or chromosomal aberration; patients with history of alcoholism, head injury or head trauma, stroke, or the presence of vascular diseases could also trigger epilepsy (Shorvon, Andermann, & Guerrini, 2011, pp. 114 – 115; Wyllie, Gupta, & Lachhwani, 2005, p. 351). Presenting Signs and Symptoms In general, the presenting signs and symptoms of epilepsy includes: loss of consciousness or confused memory, fainting followed by excessive fatigue, excessive involuntary body movements of the arms and legs, the loss of muscle tone or movement, disturbances in the patient’s mood, behavior, sensation and perception (Silva, 2009). In case the student is going through a simple partial seizure, Silva (2009, p. 33) revealed that the school nurse should be able to observe â€Å"visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, or vertiginous misperception or hallucinations†. In line with this, the student may show signs of finger or hand shaking or the uncontrollable jerking of the mouth (Wagner et al., 2009). In some cases, the student may end up talking without any sense or complain about dizziness, unpleasant sights, odors, sounds, or taste in case the patient is still conscious. In case the stud